A Strange New World
by Akatsuki Leader13
Summary: Long ago, in the ancient times, there existed a being of great power that protected the world but the Avatar has long since forsaken this world and its people. Now grand empires rule the world atop the backs of countless slaves. Abandoned.


Yo everybody! The poll is done and there is a clear winner. The one that I expected to win, A Strange New World. So enjoy folks!

Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: the Last Airbender or any of its characters. All I own is the OCs.

**Chapter One: A Strange World  
**

_"__So what are we going to do with him?"_

"_I don't know but the spirits guided me to where we found him. He was frozen in the ice for who knows how long; by all rights he should be dead."_

"_But that still doesn't answer who he is and where did he come from? What are those marks on his body? And what about his clothes? I've never seen anything like them. But the colors… those colors are definitely from the Air-"_

Aang let out a groan as he awakened from his slumber. He blinked his eyes, trying to shake the grogginess from his body. The boy looked up at source of voices. In his blurred vision, he could see two people clad in what appeared to be heavy furs. "Where am I?" he rasped, his throat surprisingly dry.

"We're in the South Pole. My brother and I found you frozen in a chuck of ice," a female voice replied as one of the figures approached. "Here, have some water."

A hand slid up against his back, lifting him. The opening of a water skin was offered to him which Aang greedily guzzled down, almost choking on the water. As he drank, his vision cleared and he found himself staring at someone that while dressed akin to the people of the Southern Water Tribe, she was clearly not a member of those people. Her long black hair tied into a ponytail, pale skin and amber eyes marked her as one of the Fire Nation.

"What… Why are you here in the South Pole?" Aang blurted out.

The girl gave him a puzzled looked. "What are you talking about?" she replied. "Why wouldn't I be living here? I was born here."

"But… but you're from the Fire Nation."

The bewildered girl shook her head. "The Fire Nation? The Fire Nation hasn't existed in a long time."

Aang's eye widened in shock, a terrible feeling growing in the pit of his stomach. "What? Wha…what happened to it?" he asked, afraid of what he was going to hear.

"Like you don't know Air Nation boy," another voice interrupted.

An older teen approached the two. Like the girl, he was unmistakably from the people of the Fire Nation that Aang had known. Pale skin, amber eyes and messy black hair, but there was also a red tattoo around his left eye in the shape of the head of some kind of hound that Aang could not readily identify.

"Zuko-"

"No Azula!" the teen, Zuko said, cutting off her protests. "He's not from here that means he's with the Alliance! If he stays here, he'll bring the slavers, or worse, down on us!"

"If they find his frozen body out there, it will bring the soldiers of the Alliance to make an example of us! Like Father!" Azula shot back. "Maybe if you actually used your head once and awhile, you'd realize that!"

"I'm sorry for any trouble I may have caused you but please, not of this makes any sense to me," Aang said, raising his hands, trying to stop the arguing teens and desperate for answers. "Before my accident, there were four nations in the world, the Earth Kingdom, the Water Tribes, the Fire Nation and the Air Nomads."

Once again, he received looks of confusion. "Water… Tribes? Air Nomads? I've never heard of those places," Azula answered. "But the Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation existed hundreds of years ago."

'_Hundreds of years ago…'_ Aang thought, the words echoing through his mind.

Had it really been that long? It couldn't be. Aang thought back what happened before he woke up. He and Appa had been traveling south when they had been caught in a thunderstorm. Appa ended up crashing into sea. Aang could remember going under the water but after that, nothing. "Hundreds of years ago…" he uttered in disbelief. "But… but that's impossible…"

Then it occurred to him. Everyone he had ever known, Bumi, Kuzon, Gyatso, everyone, was long dead. "What year is it?" he demanded, already knowing the answer deep down.

"567 AC," Azula replied.

"AC?"

Azula nodded her head. "Alliance Calendar," she explained. "It started the year the Grand Alliance of Air, Earth and Water was founded, though it was officially adopted years later."

Aang began to gasp for breath, the weight of everything suffocating him. "What year is it in SC?"

The girl placed a hand on his shoulder. "You're hyperventilating," she forcefully said. "Calm down."

Somehow, Aang managed to calm himself down, slowing his breathing. "The old calendar! What year is it in the old calendar?" he insisted.

Azula shook her head. "I'm…I'm not sure. It hasn't been used in ages," she admitted. "How long were you in that ice?"

"I don't know…" Aang said, hanging his head in despair.

* * *

Several hours had passed since the boy they had found in the ice had awakened. The siblings had plied him with questions as best as they could. Aang had answered them as best as he could. Now, the elders of their tribe had called a meeting to discuss what to do with him.

The meeting was a rather simple affair within the central hall of their settlement. Both Zuko and Azula stood before the assembled elders, explaining what the boy had told them. Once they were done, the leaders of their people silently pondered everything for a time before speaking.

"What have you learned from the boy?" Qin, the leader of their settlement asked.

"He claims to have been frozen in the ice for hundreds of years," Zuko answered.

"And you believe this?" the older man asked, stroking his beard.

Zuko shook his head. "No."

"Maybe," his younger sister admitted. "The spirits guided me to where he was. But they wouldn't have if he wasn't important."

Everyone looked at her, surprised by her words. "Even if he was a part of some Alliance plot, why create such an outrageous story? No one in their right mind would believe it," Azula explained.

Zuko shook his head. "No one could survive for hundreds of years buried in ice."

"No one could survive being frozen in ice period. Not even with the technology of the Alliance," she pointed out. "Only the power of the spirits could preserve his life."

There were mummers from the elders as they whispered amongst themselves. Qin raised his hand, silencing his fellows. "Take him to the Diviner," he proclaimed. "If he is telling the truth, she will reveal it. If he is lying, kill him."

* * *

Aang blinked his eyes rapidly, adjusting to the brightness of the sun as he and the two siblings that had been caring for him. All around him were various huts and crude buildings made from large animal bones and hides. The village was surrounded in a wall of snow with gates made of scavenged scrap metal and sentries standing guard atop walls with strange pole weapons of wood and metal. And mingling around the structures were dozens of people, going about their daily lives. It wasn't lost on the young airbender that despite their attire and their homes, they all bore the physical traits of people from the Fire Nation. "Where are you taking me?" he asked, thankful that they had given him some of heavier clothes to wear.

"To see someone special," Azula replied. "She'll be able to help you."

"Really?" the younger boy asked, hoping that there truly was something that he could do.

"Yes," Zuko grunted, holding another of the unusual weapons in his hands, a sword strapped to his back. "Now let's get moving."

His sister nodded and they lead the young airbender outside of the village, heading south-east for what was either small mountain range or a collection of immobile glaciers covered in snow. They had been marching through the snow for a good ten minutes when there was a loud animal bellow from above. The trio looked up as a large, six-legged beast soared overhead before landing in front of the teens.

"What is that thing?" an awestruck Azula asked.

"How can something that big fly?" her brother added, disbelieving what he had just witnessed.

"APPA!" Aang cheered, rushing his beloved companion's side and hugging the great beast's face. "It's good to see you again boy!"

Appa responded by giving the boy a friendly lick with its tongue. After everything that happened to Aang today, it felt unbelievably good to see an old face again.

"What is that?" the lone girl of the group repeated.

Aang turned to her, a big grin plastered on his face. "It's my friend, Appa. He's a Sky Bison," he said, feeling better than he had all day.

"A Sky Bison?"

"They're what the Air No-I mean people of the Air Nation fly on," Aang explain, patting Appa.

Zuko shook his head. "No, they don't," he replied. "The People of Air have a wide array of flying machines from simple gliders that children play on to their mighty Flying Fortress-Cities from which they rule the skies from."

Aang was stunned… no, horrified by the news. His people no longer flew on the Sky Bison… It was inconceivable. They had lived with the Bison for countless generations. The only thing that could be more outrageous than that would be to claim that his people were no longer airbenders. "No Sky Bison…" he uttered.

"We've never even here of them," Azula admitted.

Once again since he had woken up in this bizarre, mad world, Aang wished that he had never decided to fly south.

* * *

After a short ride on Appa, they had arrived at a smaller village at a base of one of the mountains. Armed warriors stood guard in the camp and the cave opening that was at the end of the settlement. Nearly all of those people that weren't standing guard were engaged in warrior training. "Who are they?" Aang asked as they descended to land.

"The Warrior Cult of the Diviner," Azula replied. "Of the tribes, they are the most unique among us all. They are men and women who swear a life of duty, giving everything they had, to serve and protect our spiritual leader. The woman you're going to meet."

As they landed before the village, warriors began to approached them, holding up halberds made of animal bones and teeth. One by one the three of them climbed off Appa. All of the warriors looked ready to strike them at a moment's notice. A man took a step towards them. "Who are you and why have you come?" the warrior demanded.

Zuko bowed his head. "I am Zuko of Clan Ignis, nephew of Iroh the Dragon," he greeted. "And this is my sister, Azula."

The leader gestured to Aang. "The boy?"

"He is why we are he," the teen answered. "His name is Aang. My sister and I found him frozen in ice. Our tribe elders asked us to bring him to the Diviner in search of answers."

The warrior turned to Aang, scrutinizing him intently. The young airbender nervously gulped under his powerful gaze. "Very well," he finally said. "We will take you to the Diviner."

With that, a handful of the warriors escorted through their meager village and into the cave beyond it. The walls of the cave were lined with ice and caved into the ice were images of men, women, animals and figures that were neither man nor beast. Eventually the winding passage led to large, perfectly round chamber of ice that oddly enough, was not cold at all. The carvings continued into the room as great statues of ice. At the end opposite the entrance was a massive stalactite upon which hung a seemingly sleeping dark haired woman. All she wore was a simple white cloth only just covered her nakedness while chains bound her wrists and ankles to the rock. Below her, in the center of the floor was a raised platform of stone inscribed with all manner of runes and symbols. Just as with the village, warriors armed with halberds stood guard alongside a handful of men and women in robes of white trimmed with gold.

"Who is she?" Aang asked, staring up at the hanging woman in awe as they entered the chamber.

"We don't know exactly. She was born just over three hundred years ago and her name has been lost since then," a robed man answered. "Back then was one of the truly darkest times for us but she changed all of that, sacrificing herself to bring the light of hope to our people. She is now neither alive nor dead, neither human nor spirit. And she is our blessed leader. We call her the Diviner."

"So what do I do?"

"Just stand there on the altar," the man instructed, pointing to the platform.

Cautiously, Aang stepped onto the platform, unsure as to what to expect. "Here?"

The man simply nodded before signaling to his fellows. As one, the others began to chant in another language, one that Aang had never heard before. "Oh Great Diviner, hear the pleas of your kin," their leader said, beseeching the bound woman. "We wish to know of the one before us. He claims have been frozen since ancient times. But he could be deceiving us, a trick by our enemies. Please Great Diviner; reveal the truth of this boy."

Aang looked up at the woman as her eyes opened. Staring back at him were not human eyes but rather twin orbs of bluish-white energy. Her body surged forward, pulling on the chains. Six wings of light emerged from her back, joined by a glowing halo. "_**You… you are young yet impossibly ancient…**_" she proclaimed, a male and female voice speaking together in unison. "_**You are the raging flame and the silent ice… The unyielding rock and the untamed wind… You are the ageless walker of both worlds… The infinite shinning light for mortal and spirit alike… You are the eternal balancer of the world… The one to restore the order of the world… The one to relearn the lost Arts… The one to return the Children of Agni to their proper place… You… are… the… Avatar…**_"

As quickly as it began, it ended. The Diviner closed her eyes, her halo and wings disappearing as she fell back to her previous position against the hanging stone.

"Avatar… He is truly real," someone uttered.

"Our savoir has come at last," another added.

Aang could only watch in silence as everyone, even Zuko who had been suspicious of him from the moment they met, knelt down before him reverence. The leader of the cult raised his head, looking upon him awe. "For countless years we have waited for your return as the spirits said you would. As she said you would," the man said. "You are the one that will set us all free."

After that time seemed to move at a rapid pace for Aang. He was ushered out of the cave, only to find that word of what had been revealed had spread ahead of him and all of the warriors in the village had gathered before the cave entrance, bowing before him as he emerged with the others.

Aang knew full well that he was the Avatar; something had never wanted to be. That was why he ran away in the first place. Now, because of that single decision he was hundreds of years into the future, in a world that no longer made any sense to him.

He never should have run away…

* * *

Zuko and Azula, along with a group of the warriors had escorted Aang back to the village he had woken up in. There waiting for them were the elders of the village. Before anyone could ask anything of the group, the leader of the warriors announced what the Diviner had said. The reaction was immediate. People began to cheer, praising Aang for finally coming to free, some beseeched him to bless their children or their entire families, and others just knelt down in reverence. Aang found it all overwhelming.

Mercifully, the elders and the warriors quickly herded him away from the crowd and into the village hall. There Aang found himself sitting, surrounded by the elders and the siblings. For what seemed like eternity, there was nothing but silence. Zuko was the first to speak, prostrating himself before the boy. "Forgive me Avatar," he solemnly said. "Had I known, I never would have acted the way I did to you."

"I… There's no need to apologize Zuko," Aang replied, still overwhelmed by how he was being treated.

One of the older men cleared his throat. "I am Qin, leader of this settlement," he said. "I imagine that you have a number of questions Avatar."

"Yes. This isn't the world I came from," Aang replied. "Before I was frozen, there were four nations, the Fire Nation, the Earth Kingdom, Water Tribe and Air Nomads. But now…"

Qin nodded his head in understanding. "The four ancient nations from your time have long ceased to be and have been replaced by new nations. Aside from the South Pole, the world is controlled by the Twin Water Empires, the Earth Republic and the Four Air Nations which are united in the Grand Alliance of Air, Earth and Water."

Aang wasn't sure what surprised him more, the changing of the nations he had known or that three of them were united together. But surprise wasn't the only thing that he was feeling. A sense of dread began to fill him as he wondered why only _three_ of the four nations were a part of this alliance. "What about you? What about the Fire Nation?" he asked.

"The People of Fire are a scattered and hated people, the lowest of the low," an elderly woman answered. "Most of us live among the other nations as slaves. Only where in the South Pole are we free; save for when the slavers come for more people."

"H-How… how did this happen?" the airbender stuttered, unable to believe what he had heard. Slaves? There were slaves in this world? It was monstrous! Barbaric! Surely the descendants of his own people would never support such atrocities.

"There are two tales of the great war and how our world came to be, the Alliance's and ours. Both start the same way, long ago a Lord of Fire started a war that grew to consume all corners of the world," Qin said. "The People of Air, Earth and Water united against the People of Fire. It would be the precursor to the Alliance of today. For over a century, countless atrocities were committed by both sides in their attempts to achieve a final victory. In the end, one of the Lord of Fire's successors committed a crime so terrible; the Celestial Spirits of the World became enrage."

His words sent Aang reeling. Before he ran away, Aang had overheard the rumors that the Fire Nation was becoming more aggressive and that a war could break out. Aang shook his head, realizing that a war had started and because he had fled from his duties as Avatar something terrible happened.

"It is here that the stories diverge," another elder added. "The Alliance claims that they punished all humans for their savagery, striping us of the ability to bend the elements."

"What? You mean no one can bend anymore?" Aang exclaimed, his face turning white.

"Yes. The ancient Art of Bending is lost to us all," Qin said. "They say that it was the punishment that we must all bear for our past sins. But the Alliance also believes that we bore much greater sins than all others and were further cursed by the Spirits. They claimed that all of the Children of Fire were forever marked as the worse of Man; selfish, treacherous, savage people that have no place among the civilized world. The Spirits cast us out from our homes into the barren wastes of the frozen south."

"And the rulers of the Alliance think that they're granting us a great mercy by enslaving our people," Zuko spat in disgust.

There was a mummer of agreement from many of the elders. "Our version claims that the war was not in the bloody stalemate as the Alliance speaks of, rather our ancestors were on the verge of victory when the great crime occurred and that the Spirits only stripped us of our firebending," Qin explained. "This allowed the other nations to win the war, but in their zeal and anger, they committed terrible acts against their defeated enemies, even against those that we utterly innocent. Their actions further horrified and angered the Spirits and in retaliation, they stripped all of their ability to bend. However, they didn't banish the People of Fire to the South Pole or proclaim them to be the worst of Man. That was the Alliance. They blamed us for everything, including their own crimes. We became the villains of the entire world."

"We accept that our ancestors committed terrible sins. But we believe that the crimes of the father are not the crimes of the son," the visibly oldest of them spoke, his voice quiet and rasping.

"Unfortunately, it is impossible to say which, if either is true," a woman spoke.

"For centuries, we struggled under the ever watchful eye and lash of the Alliance. Whenever our society started to approach their level or even just try to organize our scattered clans into a cohesive group, their armies descend on us and destroy everything that we accomplish with their powerful technology," Qin explained, his voice laden with sorrow. "Those who are taken north exist solely as slaves, working in mines and fields, constructing their cities and their monuments. The blood and sweat of our people are the grease of the great machine that is the Alliance."

Aang felt sick to his stomach with pain and guilt. Everything had gone so very, very wrong and all because he had abandoned his responsibilities when the world needed him.

"But then the Diviner was born," Qin spoke, his demeanor quickly changing to one of elation. "Even at an early age, she was clearly marked by the spirits. As she grew older, she began to commune with lesser spirits, beseeching them to help her people. With their help, she was able to warn her people of storms, help hunters catch food for her clan and even able to heal the injured and infirm. Eventually a few began to help her tribe, from aiding them in hunting animals for food to warning the people of approaching storms to helping their warriors protect against slavers. Soon more spirits were drawn to her and her people. The Diviner began to teach others her ways and our Spiritual Arts. For the first time in generations, we could stand against the technological superiority of the Alliance. We could win back our freedom."

"The Diviner traveled from tribe to tribe, spreading her teachings. Soon, some of her finest pupils allowed themselves to be captured by slavers so they spread her teachings to all our kin across the world," another elder added. "All of this was done in secret, lest the Alliance learn of our actions. It took several decades, but eventually our resistance against the Alliance was born. For over two hundred years, we have struggled against our oppressors. We have endured much hardship, but with the blessings of the spirits we know that we will earn our freedom."

The shame Aang felt was temporally pushed aside as questions about the Diviner and these 'Spiritual Arts'. "I don't understand. What are these Spiritual Arts?"

"Suppose that we should start at the beginning," the eldest said. "It is said that when all bending was taken from man, a great emptiness settled in the hearts of the people as though more than just bending was taken from us. Many desperate people sought out ways to restore bending or at least filling the emptiness. Within the nations of the Alliance, technology and worse became that replacement. It gave them solace and their nations have prospered greatly ever since."

"But not your people," Aang commented, already realizing the answer.

"Yes," Qin replied as he nodded. "Our people lingered within that emptiness for generations, worsened by the actions of the Alliance. As we said before, that changed when the Diviner was born. Through her, we developed a connection to the myriad of spirits that reside within this world and the Spirit World. And for the first time since the ancient war we were a united people."

"But when the Diviner ascended and despite her pleas we became divided once more. While the Clans are united through the Resistance, such unity does not extend here. Even today, small skirmishes break out amongst the Clans," the eldest added. "And as the years passed, her greatest students grew into masters and further expanded on her teachings. Shamans, druids, elementalists, spiritualists, scryers, mystics and a dozen other names and variations of her original teachings born from her students and taught to those who could be taught."

"But how exactly? And what are the Spiritual Arts you keep on speaking of?" Aang asked, still not understanding things.

Qin turned to the siblings sitting at Aang's side. "Azula, show him," the elder ordered.

Azula reached into a small pouch that hung at her side, pulling out a small charm made from animal bones and teeth. Holding it up in her left hand, Azula closed her eyes and lifted up her other hand. The charm began to glow with a reddish-orange light and suddenly a spark appeared just above her outstretched palm. It quickly grew in size, becoming a floating fireball. The teen opened her eyes and smirked before extinguishing the fire, the light from the charm fading as well.

"That… that is amazing," Aang commented, studying the girl intently. "That looks like firebending."

"It probably is the closest thing to firebending we have. But the fire is not my creation. Not fully anyway," Azula replied. "The fire itself came from a lesser fire spirit, a spirit that I made a pact with."

"But how? Most spirits can't touch our world," the airbender pointed out.

"The spirit channels its power into the charm and through my body."

Aang scratched his chin, thinking over her words. "So you're a bridge for the spirit's fire."

"No. If it was like that the fire would be wild and violent," she said, shaking her head. "The spirit provides the fire while I provide focus and control."

"So your power is created from both you and the spirit."

Azula nodded. "More or less."

"Of course, Azula herself is but a neophyte," Qin added, earning a sour look from the girl. "What she can do pales in comparison to what those among our people that have achieved a mastery over our Arts."

Aang had to admit; despite all the horrors that he had just learned, this was something absolutely amazing. In the world that he had come from, spirits and mortals seldom interacted with one another barring the Avatar of course. But here it seemed that spirits and these people worked together every day. It was…amazing. "So how did the Diviner end up like she is now?" he asked, curious to learn more about them.

"One day, she asked that a shrine be constructed within the mountain. Once it was completed, she entered the shrine alone and conducted a ritual that has never been done before or since. When it was done, she had completely merged with an ancient and powerful spirit, the first spirit to help her. They became a singular being. The Diviner as we know her now," an elder answered.

"But why?"

"None can say," Qin replied. "But what of you, Avatar? The legends say that you could humble even the greatest of kings and the mightiest of spirits with your power over the four elements yet you are a young boy."

Aang hesitated for a moment. These people were expecting him to be some all powerful grand savior when he was just young airbender, the last airbender. What could he possibly say that wouldn't disappoint them all? "Well… you see, the Avatar is mortal like everyone else but when the Avatar dies they're reincarnated into a new person. But… the new Avatar is someone completely new and they have to relearn how to bend the four elements in order to become a full Avatar. And unfortunately…" Aang paused again, struggling to find the right words. "Unfortunately at the moment, I've only learned airbending… I'm sorry but with no more benders in the world, I don't know how I will learn the other elements."

The hope that filled the eyes of everyone around when they learn who he was dimmed and despair seemed to creep into many. The sounds of whispers and mummers filled the room. The oldest of the elders raised his wizened hand, drawing silence from his fellows. "Perhaps not all hope is lost," he said. "It is said the lost Arts of Bending was first created by the eldest of spirits who in turn passed it on to mortal beings. Perhaps you can learn the elements from those spirits themselves."

"But how could I find such spirits?"

"You must speak with those that are our most experienced of shamans. They may know of how to find and commune with such powerful spirits. However, you will not find many among the Clans here the South Pole. Our most experienced are either in north, fighting against the Alliance or in deep slumber as their souls traverse the Spirit World."

"Iroh could help him," another said.

A third nodded. "Yes. There are few that are as wise in the ways of the Spirit World as he."

"Not to be rude but who's Iroh?" Aang asked.

"Iroh the Dragon is the leader of our Clan as well as one of the greatest shamans alive. It is Iroh who along with his son Lu Ten leads the Resistance within the lands of the Earth Republic against the Alliance," Qin answered. "There are few man that know as much about spirits as Iroh. But what would you do once you achieved mastery over all four elements?"

Aang didn't need any time to think about his answer. "This world has suffered terribly while I was asleep and it has become something that should never have been allowed to be," he replied. "The people of the Four Nations are supposed to equal to one another, living in peace together. It's my duty to restore the balance and bring back a true peace to the world. And I give you my word; I will free all your people from slavery."

* * *

And done!

This took a little longer than I expected mainly because I was still hammering out some details. I kept on trying to add scenes with other important Avatar characters but they just felt out of place compared to the rest of the chapter. And has you can all see, I've changed some things from my original draft. The biggest being the reworking of the Spiritual Arts. While I liked all the different things I had for that, I started to feel that it was just too diverse for it only to be from the Fire Clans. So I decided to combine it all into one general path that contains all of it and then grows to branch out into other paths. Now, I changed Zuko to just a warrior rather than keep him as a shaman though I kept his tattoo for a reason that will be revealed later on.


End file.
